


Helping Hands

by Realitymess



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Broken Bones, Dad Spy, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Engineer gets Knocked out, Everyone Is Alive, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hiding, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Summaries, Implied/Referenced Character Death, I‘m going to hell, LITERALLY, M/M, Multi, No one dies it’s just thought about, People Swear what’s new, Scout breaks his leg, Slow Burn, Sniper is awkward enough, Soldier is a sweetheart???, Spy gets shot, Spy is fucking pissed, and I’m dragging you down with me, medic is medic ok, scout has trouble reading, that's canon I swear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 02:53:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17479844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Realitymess/pseuds/Realitymess
Summary: Scout didn’t expect Sniper of all people to help him, much less the Sniper on the other team. But, broken legs take time to heal, and the situation quickly spirals out of control as Spy goes on a search and Engineer tries to hold out on the point. Good thing they’re not alone either.





	1. Chapter 1

Well, shit.

Scout took a deep shaky breath before making another grab for the health pack that was just out of reach before collapsing back with a sigh. He just had to rush in, didn’t he? Just had to run in, guns blazing, practically  _ begging _ people to shoot him? What did he even expect, a nice casual jog through the enemy base? And now he was here, stuck at the entrance to some fucking sewer with a leg so broken you could see bones poking out through the skin in places, blaring white against a deep sort of blood red, somewhat different from his crimson uniform’s colour. Scout would faint from the sight, but fainting was for sissies, which he was  _ not _ .

One thing was for sure, he wasn’t going anywhere. He could barely move from his sitting position on the floor, let alone walk anywhere. And like he would even try swimming back. Any cries for the RED’s medic would probably get the attention of the BLU team, and that was something he did not want to deal with right this moment. And, to add insult to injury, if by some miracle the RED spy found him, he’d get the longest lecture in his life, probably something along the lines of  how he’s ‘too reckless’ and ‘needs to slow down’. Now that would just be boring as fuck. The only other way out of this situation, Scout realised, was through respawn. He shuddered at the thought. Scout would rather walk a mile with his broken leg than willingly die to get rid of it and that was that. Deeply annoyed, he shifted into a more comfortable position. 

This was going to be a long wait.

  
  


Scout jolted up from his light sleep by the sound of nearby voices. How long had he been down here? He assumed it wasn’t long, seeing as his leg still had bone shards pointing out at odd angles, blood was still dripping out of the wound, and the distant sound of explosions still sounded through the air. He took a deep, pained sigh, and made yet another grab for the health pack while the voices continued. 

“God damnit!” Scout harshly whispered, his latest attempt at grabbing the vital health pack failing. He immediately regretted his choice to speak when the voices stopped. He put a hand around his mouth to muffle his breath. 

One of the voices spoke up. “You heard that too?” Southern, surprisingly calm. Had to be Engineer.

Oh right. He was still in the BLU base. With a broken leg. Fuck.

“Figure it’s the Spook?” More laid-back, distinct australian accent. Definitely Sniper. 

“No, he’s too careful to mess up like that. Besides, that didn’t sound like him.”

“Well, he does have a tendency to sound like other people.” Scout heard a chuckle.

“True, true. But, wouldn’t hurt to check it out, now would it?” Scout let out something akin to a pained whine.

A pause. “Fine. I was getting bored anyways. But if end up getting backstabbed again by that bloody suit I  _ will _ murder you.”

“That’s fair.”

As soon as he heard footsteps coming towards him Scout panicked, desperately reaching for his bat in self defence. Sure, it wouldn’t do anything, but it made him feel just a little bit safer. Just a bit though. He sat up, ignoring the spike in pain coming from his leg and prepared for the worst.

 

“Alright suit, I’ve had enough of your shit, so why don’t you just stand nice and still so we can both be over with this?” Scout tightened his grip on the bat, his nerves starting to get the better of him. He was  _ not _ going to die in this fucking sewer. He could hear the BLU (Or, he assumed it was the BLU,) Sniper turning the corner as he continued to taunt the ‘Spy’, his footsteps turning into splashes as he stepped into the shallow sewage water.

“Even if you aren’t a Spy, it would make thing a ‘ell of a lot easier if you could politely step out where I could see you!” Sniper called out. Scout forcefully bit back a snarky comeback about how he  _ really couldn’t right about now because his fucking leg was shattered and _ -

The BLU Sniper turned the corner.

 

“There you are.”

The BLU Sniper started to walk towards him, figuring he could get a quick kill before finally noticing Scout’s mutilated leg and altogether bad health from being stuck in a sewer for a good hour or so. Sniper had never really been one to sympathise with anyone, much less the enemy, but that just looked downright painful.

“W-well, what  are you waiting for?” Scout said in a voice that immediately gave away how he felt. “You were just sayin’ something about h-how it would be easier if I went into the open? Well,” He extended his arms. “Here I am. In the open.”

“But your leg-”

“You think I don’t know?” Scout made an attempt to sound more annoyed than scared. “I haven’t been able to move from this one spot for about an hour and I’m pretty sure I’ve lost, like, ten percent of my blood. Hell, I don’t even know where my gun is.” He dropped his arms to his side in defeat. “I can’t even reach the fuckin’ heathpack…” He muttered.

If Scout had looked up at that moment, he would have seen the BLU Sniper lower his weapon, a look on his face that was a mix of worried, sympathetic, and apologetic all at the same time. But, since he didn’t, all Scout saw was a kukri being dropped as the Sniper walked towards the health pack Scout had been making futile attempts at grabbing, taking out the bandages and anesthetic. Needless to say, he was confused as hell.

“Um, what the fuck are you doing?” Scout hesitantly said.

“What the fuck does it look like I’m doin’? I’m helping you, you spastic little gremlin, now hold still.”

“I can see that,” Scout winced as Sniper cleaned the blood around his wound. “But why? We’re on opposite sides, you should have killed me already-”

“I said  _ hold the fuck still _ .”

Scout held still.

After a moment of silence, Sniper spoke up again, grabbing his Kukri and giving it a quick wipe. “Now, this part is gonna hurt like hell, so I’m gonna need you to grab your shirt and bite down on it, real hard.”

“Wait wait wait, what?” Scout started to get nervous again.

“It’s to muffle the sound of your girly screams, idiot.” Sniper retorted.

“No no, why would I need to do that? You’re not killing me, are you?”

“ _ God fuck _ \- I’m setting the bone asshole, do you want my help or not?”

Scout quieted down and ripped off the sleeve of his shirt to use as a gag.

“Alright, just gonna need to ask you one question, ok?” Sniper said, gently placing his hands on the two bones poking out of the RED’s leg.

Scout nodded silently.

“What’s your favourite colour?”

Scout’s initial confusion rapidly turned into immense and searing pain as the bones quite literally were snapped back into place by Sniper, who was wincing with him in unconscious sympathy. If not for the gag, Scout would have been shrieking at the top of his lungs, loud enough to alert both teams of his current location. Which would be a bad thing, considering a BLU was helping a RED by conscious choice. Scout spat the gag out of his mouth after a moment.

“DUDE WHAT THE HELL?!” Scout’s voice cracked as he snapped at Sniper, who was currently wrapping the wound in gauze, using his kukri as a makeshift splint.

“Trust me, you’ll thank me later.” Sniper continued to work on the wound, adjusting the ‘splint’ so the blade wouldn’t cut the gauze.

Scout took a few deep breaths before continuing his rant. “Also, what the hell was with the favourite colour thing?!”

“I-I don’t know, our Doc said it hurts less if it’s a surprise!” Sniper stammered.

“Yeah, well he’s your Doc. And, coming from experience, that’s a load of bullshit.” 

Sniper chuckled. “Good to know. I’ll be sure to tell ‘im.”

Sniper stood up, dusting his knees off before offering his hand to the RED. Scout hesitated.

“Well?” Sniper moved closer. “Are you coming or not?”

“Um, I-” Scout began

“No worries, you can always just stay in the sewer until your leg heals. Which would be, oh I don’t know, a week? Two?” Sniper started to walk away.

“Hold on, hold on!” Scout called after him after a moment of thinking. Sniper turned around in response, a smirk on his face.

“Fine. I’ll come with you.” Scout said sternly. “But one wrong move and I’ll knock you the fuck out, ok?”

“Yeah, sure you will.” But Sniper was already helping Scout onto his feet, using his arm to prop him up. “Come on, we ‘aven’t got all day.”

They walked through the sewers for a bit as Sniper tried to recall which way the stairs were located. It was fairly quiet, but not that awkward silence that Sniper usually had to endure. More like a mutual agreement to keep their thoughts to themselves. It was... nice.

“Blue.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Sniper took a moment to look at Scout with confusion.

“My favourite colour, it’s blue. I-I mean, I never answered your question from before, and it seemed kinda rude  _ not  _ to, so I figured I’d say it now... ”

Sure, Sniper hadn’t meant it as an actual question, but fuck, if it didn’t make him all happy and shit that the RED Scout had actually been listening to him, even if he was a RED. Especially if he was a RED.

He figured he’d try not to shoot at him as much when this was all over.

“Well,” Sniper cautiously prompted Scout. “What shade of blue? Or are you the sort of bloke who doesn’t give two shits about the shade?”

“What? Oh no, there’s this specific kinda blue, you know the kind that’s  _ almost purple _ put just not quite, and it’s a real dark shade, but not navy, no it’s like a shade kinda lighter than that? And you don’t see it that much in clothes and that sort of shit, but there’s so many colours it goes with, and it’s almost sort of calming, right?...”

By this point, Sniper was blocking out the rest of Scout’s rant about his favourite shade of blue, but he knew what he was talking about. And holy shit did he talk. A part of Sniper started to resent the fact that he helped the enemy team, but he figured he could live with it. By now he had lost the RED in his speech about the different types of blue, just letting him talk as much as he wanted without worrying about his team interfering. He had heard over the comms that the RED Soldier had the intel, but he couldn’t care less right about now. Besides, if the RED Soldier made it back to his base it would just be a tie, and it would keep both teams busy.

The kid still had time to heal. 

 

“Hey, Spy?” The RED Engineer carefully approached his team’s infiltrator, who was currently having a nervous smoke. The scores were not in their favour at the moment, and the RED team as a whole couldn’t afford another loss to the BLU.

“Is it important?” Spy slowly asked.

“Well, is missin’ a teammate important to you?” Engineer asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

A look of worry crossed the RED Spy’s face before returning to a more neutral expression. “May I ask  _ who _ we are missing?”

“Scout.” Spy’s brow furrowed, causing Engineer to hesitate before continuing. “Haven’t seen him for a couple a’ hours now. We could really use his help, but that boy’s nowhere to be found.”

“Well, where did you see him last?” Spy choked down a panicked voice crack.

“Last I checked? Runnin’ off into the BLU’s base like the devil was at his heels. Something about ‘proving his worth’ to us. Didn’t get the chance to follow him.”

“That  _ imbecile _ .” Spy’s cigarette burned out. He shakily pulled out another and lit it. “Very well, I’ll find him and assure he won’t cause anymore alarm.” He took a long drag and blew out the smoke.

“Alright. But, if anythin’ goes wrong-”

“It  _ won’t _ . Trust me.” Spy snapped.

“Well, that’s an understandably hard thing to do, no?”

“Please.”

“A’ight. Have at it. Just… don’t die, ok?” And with that, Engineer left him to his own devices.

Spy took a moment to think of a plan. He most likely would need a disguise, someone innocent. Demoman perhaps? No, too loud, he needed someone who would have a reason to be quiet. The other Spy? No, he had just tried that on his latest attempt to infiltrate the BLU base. Medic? Now that could work. If he could get to a good spot before revealing himself… 

He took one last puff of smoke from his cigarette before dropping it on the floor and crushing it with his heel. He was going to find Scout if it was the last thing he did in this hellhole.

Just as he entered the base, the RED Soldier made a wild push for the intel, blasting his way through the blue clad mercenaries on the other team.

The perfect distraction.

 

Ok, maybe this whole war thing was a stupid idea.

The BLU engineer was currently picking up the remnants of his precious sentries, demolished by the RED team’s first successful assault. He felt a tinge of anger, sure. But they needed this just as much as they did, so he tried not to dwell on it. He mentally reminded himself that the Administrator was up both their asses, and they needed to win the next one if they didn’t want to be tortured by her lackeys. But, at the same time, he knew he couldn’t just give up the fight because then he’d be one her hit list too, and it was all just a big mess. He just had to keep on moving. Keep building. 

He knew he couldn’t keep this up for much longer.

He needed new people to talk to. He needed fresh air. A nice home in the country. A nice quiet life with his blueprints, and a group of close friends, about eight or nine of them, who were just as crazy as he is.

Well, he had one of those things at least.

He placed a small sentry near his dispenser, the only thing that has escaped the onslaught, and just barely at that, sparks flying out of it and wires exposed.. He considered building a teleporter, then realised he was out of scrap. Dammit, he didn’t have time to wait for his dispenser to sort itself out right now. Now, where was the nearest scrap spawner… 

As Engineer wandered around the base, he took a moment to acknowledge how his team was holding up. Medic was good, Demoman needed a bit of help but he’ll be fine, Soldier’s dead… Engineer didn’t realise he was walking straight into his team’s Sniper until he looked up and saw a Kukri pointed at his face.

“Woah there, calm down why don’t ya?! It’s just me!” Engineer raised his hands in surrender. 

Sniper gave him a good look before lowering his knife. “Ah, sorry there mate, I’ve just been on edge for a while now. That bloody RED suit is targeting me, I swear.” He made an annoyed face at the thought of the RED Spy backstabbing him yet again.

“I can see where you’re coming from. When he’s not stabbin’ you he’s destroying my buildings which, as you know, are pretty important to the team.”

“Well, I’m not alone, at least. How you holding up?”

“Ah, as well as I can. My dispensers not destroyed, so that’s an improvement.”

“Good, good. Well, if you wouldn’t mind-”

They both heard the voice coming from below them. High pitched for sure, almost a whisper coming from the sewers below them. Engineer faintly remembered the RED Scout running in as a last resort, but that boy was probably dead by this point. The only person it could be was the enemy Spy.

“You heard that too?” Engineer turned to Sniper

“Figure it’s the Spook?” Sniper asked back, alert. 

“No, he’s too careful to mess up like that,” Engineer reasoned. “Besides, that didn’t sound like him.”

“Well, he does have a tendency to sound like other people.” 

That earned a light chuckle from Engineer “True, true. But, wouldn’t hurt to check it out, now would it?” Engineer fancied he heard a pained noise in response.

“Fine. I was getting bored anyways. But if end up getting backstabbed again by that bloody suit I  _ will _ murder you.”

“That’s fair.” Engineer started to head back to his dispenser, hearing the sound of the fight outside getting closer. They’d probably get the intelligence from the BLUs, grab it out from under their noses and run like hell away. It would only be a tie, sure, but it brought the REDs just one step closer to victory.

Good for them. They deserved the win.

 

  
  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

“Wait a second.”

“What now?” Sniper turned to Scout, his annoyance increasing. At first the constant chatter had been a nice change from his usual social interactions, but Sniper underestimated how much this kid had to talk about. It just went on and on and… well, you get the point. And he had just gotten a moment of silence in too! Sniper did find it endearing that Scout was so passionate about whatever he had to say, but he had a bit of trouble knowing when to stop. Scout, however, continued to speak.

“Why aren’t we heading to my base right now?”

“Well, let’s say I take you back to the RED base.” Sniper stopped for a moment and turned to look at Scout. “By some miracle none of my team notices that I’m carrying an enemy in a very vulnerable position to the RED base. Now, what in the ‘ell is gonna stop your teammates from killing me on the spot?”

“But you helped me-”

“Yeah, and they don’t know that, now do they?” Sniper cut in with a deadpan expression.  
Scout froze. Sniper had a point, no matter how much he didn’t want to hear it.

“Where are we even going then? You’ve been wandering around for hours dude, it’s getting a bit tiring.” Scout muttered, continuing to walk with Sniper.

“Dude?” Sniper half-laughed.

“Does it really matter right now?” Scout continued. “Anyways, you didn’t even answer my question, asshole.”

“Aw, did I lose the privilege of being called ‘dude’?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“You’re one to talk-”

“Yes, I am. Now where the hell are we going?!” Scout snapped, startling Sniper.

“Calm your tits, we’re heading to my camper. That’s it.”

“Oh no, I am not going in your filthy ass camper if it kills me.” Scout let go of Sniper for a moment before being forcefully reminded that his leg was still broken, falling back onto the ground with a somewhat loud thud.

“Shiiiiiiit, that hurt…” Scout groaned, wincing.

“And that,” Sniper pulled Scout to his feet. “Is why you’re coming with me to my camper.”

Scout reluctantly grabbed Sniper’s shoulders to support himself and kept moving, Sniper himself smiling smugly in triumph. Other than the occasional grumble of irritation, Scout decided that he had nothing else to say with slight disappointment, if no other feeling. He wasn’t quite sure he liked not having some sort of topic to talk Sniper’s ear off, but at least it wasn’t a crushing silence that hung in the air. And yes, it would still be a long ass walk to Sniper’s camper, but Scout figured if he died on the way there he’d just be put through respawn and this whole awkward situation would be over just like that.  
He looked for any way to off himself on the bumpy road to the BLU Sniper’s camper.

 

 

 

Spy, on the other hand, was having an even worse time looking for Scout. He had checked the sewers thoroughly with no sign of him, and at one point make a narrow escape from the BLU Heavy, who had taken a moment to eat his sandwich in peace. At least he had made it into the BLU’s base relatively unscathed.

Breathing out a sigh, he quickly got to work on his disguise, a cloud of smoke briefly enveloping him before dissipating, revealing what someone who didn’t have any background information whatsoever would assume to be the BLU Medic. Luckly, most of the BLU team didn’t know about Spy’s arrival, so he figured he was safe for now.

As he walked through the BLU base, he made a mental note of the location of the BLU team. The Engineer was near the intel, probably rebuilding his sentry and dispenser. As Spy walked past him he fought the overwhelming feeling to place a sapper on the BLU’s turret. With a smile and a wave to the Engineer, he moved on. Their Demoman was already dead and the BLU Pyro was currently in the mid-fight, so he was safe from those two. As for the Medic he was currently disguised as, he couldn’t count him out as a threat at this point. Spy knew that he must have respawned by now, (he had backstabbed him on his way to the sewer entrance as a precaution,) but he couldn’t tell if he had moved from the base or if he was waiting him out inside. He started to move towards the intel room, keeping a eye out for any suspicious BLUs.

Taking a moment to rest, he realized he had never really noticed how he felt about using the disguises. Sure, it got the REDs a leg up in the fight, but he never really took a moment to see how he felt about looking almost entirely like a member of the RED team.

Well, he did what he had to anyways. Besides, he could dwell on the fact he could quite literally shapeshift into the other team after he found his so- Scout.  
Oh god, when was he going to tell him? Spy knew well that Scout held a special hatred in his heart for Spy and Spy alone, but to know he was his father…

God, what the fuck was he doing? Having an existential crisis in the enemy’s base?

“ _Fucking focus_.” Spy mentally scolded himself, getting back to the task at hand.

He narrowly dodged an awkward conversation with the BLU Soldier while he made his way back to the sewers, having exhausted his options for hiding spots Scout could have found by himself. He never was that good at hiding, Scout. Always much too loud, and he couldn’t sit still if his life depended on it. As much as Spy hated to admit it, Scout really did remind Spy of how he acted when he was a-

Saw.

That was a saw.

Against his neck.

A very sharp saw on the base of his neck, aimed at where he supposed his spinal cord must be.

Shit.

“Now, if you would very kindly turn around, mein freund.”

 

 

 

Well, he couldn’t complain about it being cozy.

Scout took a light step into the camper. The way it was ‘organized’ reminded him of his room when he was living with his mom, with piles of clothes that vaguely went together on the bed, the occasional coffee mug here and there, the family photos, he could go on and on. Except the camper had a built in kitchen.

Fuck man, why didn't he think of that? He’d have to ask Engie to put a kitchen in his room in the RED base. When he got back, of course.

If he got back.

“ _Ok, didn’t want to think about that right now._ ” Scout continued to move inside, limping heavily as he tried to forget the thought of not making it back to the RED base. The smell of coffee hung in the air around him as he fell-sat onto a nearby chair.

“Well?” Sniper followed behind, tossing his rifle into a corner for the moment with an air of authority.

“Eh, it’s alright,” Scout replied nonchalantly.

“Just ‘alright’?” Sniper’s shoulders slumped back down into his usual posture.

“Yeah. I’ve honestly seen much worse.”

“WORSE?!” Sniper said in mock anger.

“Oh yeah. You wouldn’t beLIEVE the shitty places I’ve had to stay in, and don’t get me started on my brother’s stories, oh man, I remember one of ‘em told me about this shitty hotel where they were having a malfunction with the showers that day, and when he went to take one in the morning oil started comin’ out of the shower head. Fucking. OIL. And there was this other time, you wouldn’t think this was even possible, I went to this guy’s house for a party…”

Scout was ranting again, he knew, but the simple fact that Sniper seemed to actually be listening to him was a welcome change. Hell, Sniper was even contributing to the one sided conversation with small sentences like ‘No way that happened.’, or ‘Did it really?’, or even the rare ‘What happened next then?’. So Scout told him what happened next, prompted to continue ranting off. To be honest, Scout had no idea why he felt so comfortable in a complete stranger’s house… van? House camper? Trailer? He didn’t know which was appropriate, but Scout didn’t think it really mattered at the moment.

He supposed he felt so at ease in Sniper’s house-camper-thing because it really did remind him immensely of his home all the way back in Boston, with it’s organized chaos and the constant smell of roasted coffee. He let a wave of homesickness wash over him as he thought of his brothers and his Ma, who was always the one pushing him to do great things. Scout didn’t tell her he had gotten a job as a mercenary, only that he had found a job in a place away from Boston, so he had to pack some things for the trip. A part of him felt bad for lying to her, but he tried to pay it little mind. Besides, he got to run all day and shoot things. What more could a guy want, really?

“... And there was cheese just plastered on the walls, and on everybody's clothes and his parents were so pissed with him! So yeah, I’ve seen way worse than your smelly camper-house-thing.”

“Well, like it or not, you’re going to be staying here for a while before your leg heals up, so get nice and comfy.” Sniper said with a hint of sarcasm.

“Oh I will,” Scout tried, (and failed,) to say menacingly. He slumped into a nearby chair, and thought a little more about home.

 

 

 

The RED Soldier was a simple man, with some incredibly simple rules of life. Serve his country, blow shit up, destroy the opposition, protect his friends, and help those in need. And teleport bread whenever possible. But mostly the first five.

Luckily for him, many of his simple rules, if not all, were easy to follow because of his job as a mercenary. If there was an enemy that needed their head caved in, he was the go-to man to call for that sort of thing. Currently, he was dead center in the middle of a ferocious battle between the RED and BLU teams, each side fighting with all they had and a little bit more. Soldier was having the time of his life, blowing up BLUs left right and center along with the RED Demoman, who he considered a valuable friend. Just one more push to the briefcase, and the REDs, objectively the best team in his eyes since he was on it, would be victorious, as they should have been in those previous battles if not for the incompetence of everyone else on his team. Soldier spotted an opening in the BLU’s defence and quickly screamed a harsh signal at his teammates to push forward, demolishing anyone that stood in his path. Now all that was left to face him was the BLU Engineer.

A shame really. Soldier was hoping for a challenge.

Engineer could hear the tell tale explosions from a mile away, but did he really care? No, not really. He knew he barely stood a chance without his team, much less a single sentry and a half broken dispenser. He knew he was a dead man by the time he heard the RED Soldier’s cry to march forward.

“Sometimes, I don’t know why I get out of bed in the morning…” He muttered to himself as his sentry built up a rocket launching appendage, upgrading to a level three sentry.

Surely he team would come to his aid? Well, they would come to the aid of the intelligence, but the BLU team and him didn’t really communicate all that much out of battle, and he had a feeling they wouldn’t pay that much attention to him when the REDs made it to the intel room. He only really talked to his team’s Sniper, and he was nowhere to be seen at the moment, which was worrying in it’s own sense, but there were more important matters at hand. He supposed that he had found some secluded area to sit with his fancy sniper rifle and a good vantage point to pick off the RED team one by one. Lucky guy.

 

He heard footsteps coming his way, followed by a line of raspy commands to push towards the intel, where he was currently positioned. Engineer mentally and physically prepared himself.

This was going to hurt like hell in the morning.

 

Soldier smiled devilishly as he tore through the RED base, making a beeline for the room he knew contained his prize and the win for his team.

“Just a little farther men!” He shouted behind himself to the Demoman and Medic who was followed him on his patriotic quest. Now there was nothing stopping him from reaching the intel aside from one puny little Engineer, which wasn’t much of anything to Soldier anyways. He turned the corner, packing some rockets into his gun, the same smile on his face.

 

The footsteps grew closer and closer. Engineer could faintly hear the loud laughter coming from the RED Demoman, one of his worst adversaries aside from the RED Soldier himself. He cocked his gun in what he told himself was self reassurance, and steadied himself.

 

Just around the corner, Soldier raised his rocket launcher. He was sure to win this one. What could go wrong?

 

Engineer’s sentry locked onto its target, ready to fire as soon as it stepped into the open. Engineer side-stepped behind it.

 

Maybe not the smartest idea on Engineer’s part.

 

Both the rocket from the Soldier’s rocket launcher and the sentry’s mini rockets collided in mid air, inevitably creating a massive explosion big and loud enough to rock the BLU’s base. Engineer, who had been standing behind his sentry, was now flung backwards along with the remnants of his turret. He slammed against the concrete wall behind him with a small gasp and a sickening crack, nearly knocking his helmet clean off and leaving a small trail of blood leading down to his head. The rest of his sentry fell around him, some of the pieces thudding onto his stomach, but he didn’t feel it. In fact, he didn’t feel much of anything. To the Engineer, it was like he had very abruptly decided to take a nice long nap, an idea to which he wholeheartedly agreed with at the moment.

Soldier, still dazed from the explosion, lazily brushed the rubble off of his helmet and made a grab before spotting the Engineer, slumped on the ground with blood starting to trail out of his helmet. Soldier had seen this too many times before in war times, and he knew that people like this were usually left for dead. He had always hated that part of war…

“You alright Solly?” Demoman put his hand on Soldier’s shoulder, causing him to jump in alarm. “The BLU Team has probably respawned by now, you should grab the intel while you still can-”

“You should take it.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Demoman said, confused.

“You should go with the intel. I’ll find my own way out.”

“... Solly, I cannae just leave you here.”

“Demoman, that is a direct order which I expect you to obey, now MARCH!” Soldier snapped back, his helmet threatening to fall off with the force of his turn.

Demoman took a few seconds to calm his nerves. “Alright then. I’ll take it. But I cannae come back for you Solly. You’ll be on your own.” Soldier didn’t respond.

 

As soon as Demoman and the RED Medic left the intel room, Soldier turned back to the BLU Engineer, still lying against the wall. He took a moment to think about and reconsider what he was even doing. The Engineer was hurt. The Engineer was also on the side of BLU, his sworn enemy. It would be incredibly easy to finish him off here and now, and it might put him out of his misery. It was one of his rules of life to destroy the opposition, and here was the opposition, begging to be destroyed! There was only one thing to do.

 

Soldier carefully picked up the unconscious Engineer, making sure to support his bleeding head without touching the wound itself. He slowly made his way towards the sewers, the closest way out of the BLU base that he could see, all the while praying that the rest of the BLU team were too occupied with Demoman to pay any sort of attention to him.

 

One of Soldiers rules was to destroy the opposition.

 

But another was to help those in need.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for how I wrote Medic's accent

Spy slowly turned to face the BLU Medic, arms raised in defeat. He should have known something like this would happen, he should have prepared to be ambushed, why didn’t he think of this-

“Sorry, vould you mind taking off that disguise of yours? I’m not exactly comfortable vith killing myself.”

“Oh, but of course.” Spy sighed, smoke curling off of his suit as he dropped his scarily accurate disguise. He knew the BLU Medic wouldn’t let him go that easily. No, he’d be here for a while, waiting for the perfect opportunity. Hell, he could practically see the anticipation on his attacker’s face. Spy had been focusing his attention on him for the past few rounds, it only made sense that he was so excited to kill him. “

Vell, I’ll start with the obvious. Vhat the fuck are you doing here?”

“If I told you, you’d rule it off as an excuse.”

“There’s a chance I might believe you.”

“Albeit a small one, no?”

“True, true. But you’ll be going back to respawn anyways, so vhy not tell me?” The Medic said with a smug grin on his face. He had a point, yes. But a simple threat wouldn’t bend him so easily.

“So I tell you and die, or keep my secrets and die anyways?” Spy retaliated.

“I might let you go, if you have a good enough reason.” The BLU pushed the blade of his bone saw gently but firmly into Spy’s neck.

Spy dropped his arms to his side in defeat with a considerably loud sigh. The Medic had him backed into a corner, slowly closing in on him. Spy felt a urge to have a quick smoke before he died, but he pushed it to the back of his mind.

“So? Vhat vill it be?”

“Scout.”

The BLU Medic lowered his bonesaw ever so slightly. “I’m sorry, vhat?”

“Our Scout, he ran in here some time ago trying to ‘prove his worth.’ We haven’t been able to find that idiot since. And, as I had discovered before you so rudely interrupted my exit, he is nowhere to be found in your putrid base.”

“He hasn’t respawned yet?” The Medic asked curiously, surprising Spy who hadn’t expected him to care whatsoever.

“No, he hasn’t,” Spy said anxiously. “Which, as you can imagine, is incredibly stressful on my… my team’s part, seeing as he’s incredibly vital to this certain mission. As far we know that absolute is still ‘alive and kicking’, as they say.”

“Alive? Maybe. But kicking?” The BLU Medic chuckled, much to Spy’s confusion and worry. “I was one of the many who were chasing him away. Our Heavy managed to snag his leg and I have to say that it looked… quite awful. And that’s by my standards!”

Spy let the facts sink in, already brainstorming routes he could have taken. Scout must be alive, he had to be! He just had to, or he would have respawned by now! But Spy had checked the sewers over so many times it made him sick. If he wasn’t able to move, how would he have-

“Spy?” He was abruptly snapped out of his panicked thoughts by the BLU Medic gently shaking his shoulder, who quickly stepped back once Spy had come back to his senses.

“Ah, sorry about that.” Spy said, still dazed from knowing that Scout was still alive and very seriously hurt. “I suppose you’ll kill me then, now that I’ve told you everything. Now, if you will kindly do what you must, I can continue my search for that imbecile elsewhere from here.” He braced himself for the sharp pain of a blade cutting into his neck, breath held.

But it never came. Instead, the Medic dropped his bonesaw to his side, letting it hang loosely in his gloved hand.

“Um, excusez-moi? Medic?” Spy was tempted to wave a hand in front of the doctor’s face.

“I can’t.” He muttered quietly.

“Oh please, of course you can, I’m your enemy, remember?” Spy untensed his shoulders as he questioned him in sarcastic confusion.

“Like I said, you provided a valid answer and I suppose I’m believing you.” Spy held back a scoff as he continued. “Besides, you looked so helpless, and I couldn’t kill you with that sad look on your face-”

Ok, now Spy was just aggravated. “Oh, I’m so sorry _mon ami_ , but I’m afraid you aren’t allowed to take pity on the enemy! And if you even THINK about calling me helpless again, I will personally murder you in your sleep and they will never find the body. Now kill me already!” He grabbed the Medic’s hand that was holding the bonesaw and practically shoved it against his neck.

“Let go you dummkopf, you’ll cut yourself at this rate!” The Medic struggled against his grip.

“Since when do you care?” Spy asked incredulously.

“You think I know?!”

“YES, I DO!”

“VILL YOU KEEP IT DOWN? YOU’LL ALERT THE WHOLE BASE AT THIS POINT YOU SON OF A-”

They both froze as they heard footsteps echoing down the stairs leading to the sewers. Medic and Spy could both distinguish them as belonging to Soldier, with their loud, uniform pattern and accompanying ‘hut’s.

Before Medic could think about what to do next, he was being forcefully dragged by Spy deeper into the sewers, leading out of the BLU base and to the surrounding middle ground between the two bases.

“Vhat the hell are you doing? Are you crazy?” Medic shouted at him while he tried to keep up with the RED’s pace.

“A thank you would suffice as well.” Spy said, much too calmy for what he was currently doing and who he was currently bringing with him.

“You didn’t answer my question.” Medic replied sternly, trying to catch his breath.

“Look, you were the one who chose to spare my life, now you have to live with the consequences. Are you going to help me find the RED Scout or what?”

Medic looked back on the BLU base, towering over the pair of enemies as they sprinted away from the sturdy, almost threatening looking building, then looked back to Spy, this complete stranger who he just couldn’t bring himself to kill, forcefully dragging him in some direction, any direction away from the fight. Medic could easily fight back, or call for help. He didn’t need to be dragged along on this adventure to find someone he’d rather have died. Hell, he might be able to make it back in time to explain himself to Soldier if he acted now.

He tried his best to keep up with Spy.

 

 

 

 

“That’s it, I have to get out.”

Sniper looked up from his book, a muddled look on his face. “Mate, may I remind you that your leg is still very much broken? You’re not going anywhere as far as it’s concerned.”

“I know that, dumbass.” Scout looked at him, annoyed. “I just need to stretch my legs, do a little jogging, I don’t fucking know. I need to do somethin’, that’s all I’ve got so far.”

“Restless, huh?”

“Yeah, no fucking shit Sherlock!” By this point, Scout was limp-pacing around the camper, wincing with each step on the broken leg. “Y’see, usually I can head outside, do laps for an hour, and I’m good! But no, not with a fucked up leg, just gotta sit, and wait, and do absolutely nothin’ and, and… UGH!” He collapsed back into his chair, giving a pained look to Sniper.

“Tough luck then.”

“SERIOUSLY?!” Scout yelled furiously.

“Yep,” Sniper replied nonchalantly. “I’ve got nothing by the means of a crutch, I don’t trust you with a rifle, and like ‘ell I’m letting you outside in that state. You’ll just have to tough it out.”

“Oh really?” Scout said cockily, standing up from the chair again. “What’s stopping me, huh? How do you plan to combat THIS!” As he said the last word he made a lunge for the camper door, only to be grabbed by the waist and lifted into the air by Sniper, who still had a calm expression on his face.

“By doing that.” He said with an amused tone.

“Hey, no fair asshole! You can’t do that!” Scout tried to kick him in retaliation, only to be hoisted onto Sniper’s shoulder and carried back to his chair.

“Oh yes I can. By the way, did you ever notice how fucking light you are?” Sniper now had a wide, toothy grin on his face.

“Sniper. Put. Me. Down.”

“Seriously, I swear you have the same weight of a feather.”

“Sniper.”

“I could use you as a paperweight.”

“Sniper.”

"Wonder how far you’d go up if I threw you?”

“Sniper please.”

“Alright alright, I’m just messing with you.” He finally set Scout down onto his chair, having proved his point. “But it goes to show how vulnerable you are. One wrong move, and-”

“I know I know, I get shot, or fall down the side of a bridge, or get shot, or get bitten by some animal, or get shot, the list goes on. Don’t remind me.”

“I’m just saying, until that leg’s healed, we need to lay low.”

“So no running?” Scout asked.

“Nope.”

“Well, shit.” Scout slumped into the back of his chair in utter defeat. He wasn’t used to being grounded like this, and the constant sarcasm coming from Sniper only proved more aggravating. He tapped his foot impatiently, looking around the room in hope that some idea would present itself to him.

Sniper noticed this, his sunglasses peering over the cover of his book. He had seen the BLU Scout do this too, possibly the only trait the two Scouts had in common, despite them being practically identical. Since he had never really talked to his team’s residential ‘Boston Fast Boy’, he had never learned how to help someone like this. What he was good at however, was listening and waiting. So that’s just what he did, unconsciously focusing on the rhythm of Scout’s restless toe tapping.

Eventually, Scout spoke up, startling Sniper more that he would ever show.

“What you reading?” Scout asked, leaning towards Sniper with a curious look on his face.

“Uhhhh…” Sniper turned the book around to the cover. “... Jurassic Park, apparently.”

“Oh, is that the one with all the dinosaurs and shit?” Scout was now walking towards Sniper’s seat eagerly, happy to finally have something to do.

“...Yes, it is- have you never seen Jurassic Park?”

“Well, I’ve seen the movie, but I didn’t really read the book.”

“You were complaining about not being able to do anything, no?”

“Yeah, but-”

“Then read it.” Sniper shoved the book into Scout’s chest with just enough force to make him stumble back slightly, clasping the book in his hands. “That should keep you occupied enough.”

As Sniper reached for another book to read, he heard Scout flip to the first page with a loud sigh. Sniper himself felt oddly satisfied that he had found something to keep Scout occupied, happily turning to the new book he had just grabbed and pulling out the worn bookmark. His personal library was small enough, but having it filled with his particular favourite books was most definitely a plus.

It had been quiet for about a solid hour before Sniper could hear Scout speaking yet again, this time muttering to himself, repeating sentences and certain words to himself. As Sniper paused his reading, (he was at chapter eighteen at this point,) he could make out that Scout was repeating a very specific word, pausing halfway through it. It almost sounded like he was trying to sound the word out.

“You ok?” Scout jumped, quickly turning to Sniper. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re struggling.”

“Yeah, I am,” Scout replied reluctantly. “I’m not that good at this stuff anyways, but there’s this one word, velrocira- verioc- viocirap-”

“Velociraptor?”

“Yeah, uh, that. And then there’s trikecerataps, and breakiosaurs, and a ton of bullshit like that!”

Oh. That’s why. Sniper closed his book, walking over to a visibly frustrated Scout. “So, you have trouble reading?”

“Hey! Not that much trouble, ok! It’s just big long fuckin’ words like velcrociraptor and onotomateopeea that get me! I’m… I’m not…” Scout shrunk back into his seat, face flushed with embarrassment.”

“No worries, really.” Scout looked up at Sniper. “We all struggle with something. ‘Ell, I can barely even talk to the rest of my team before I have to run back here. See, I struggle too.” Sniper replied in his most encouraging voice.

“You seemed confident enough when you found me.” Scout cockily retaliated.

“Y-yeah, well that was different! You aren’t on my team, you were hurt, I-I don’t know!” Sniper stuttered, earning a chuckle from Scout.

“Don’t worry, I’m just messin’ with ya. But, um, if you wouldn’t mind, it’d actually be real nice if you could help me with this.”

 

That earned a confused look from Sniper. “... Let me get this straight. We’re on opposite sides of what could be very much called a war.”

“Um, yes.” Scout cheerily replied.

“I’ve quite literally killed you, many times.”

“Yep.”

“And you’ve killed me, many if not more times.”

“That’s… correct- where are you going with this again?”

“The point being, Scout, is you’re asking me to read to you. Me. To you.”

Scout’s furrowed brow suddenly turned to a fallen face. “Eh, it was a stupid question anyways. You can go back to reading normally, I’ll be over here-”

“No, I’ll do it.”

“Heh, that’s a funny joke. You should quit killin’ people and become a comedian.” Scout deadpanned in response.

“No seriously, give it here.” Sniper grabbed the book from Scout’s hand, flipping back to chapter one.

“You really don’t-”

“No, shut up. I’m gonna read to you now, and if you interrupt me one time-”

“Fine fine, you can read. Just don’t… go too fast, ok?” He was now sitting next to the BLU, curling his good leg inwards into a ball.

“Sure.”

Scout didn’t know exactly why, but he found it easier to read if Sniper was reading too, something about hearing the correct pronunciation of words help him with getting through the task of reading an entire page, which he was very proud of. (So it was velociraptor, not velcrocipator!)

As Sniper continued reading, Scout focused more on his voice and less on the words on the page, slowly getting more comfortable sitting next to him. Something in his voice was just calming to him. Was it his heavy Australian accent or his deep, more gentle voice? More importantly, what was so fucking special about some guy’s voice? He had heard his team’s Sniper talk before, how was this so different? Don’t tell him he liked his fucking voice… dear god. He liked his voice.

Well shit, that wasn’t in his plans of eventual escape. Or any of his plans, for that matter. No no, he was not getting attached to the same guy whose job was to shoot him in the head. He used his piss as a weapon for god’s sake, what was he even thinking?! He was not getting attached to the guy he was trying desperately to hate with the nice voice and the dark, sarcastic humour that he somehow found funny too, he was not becoming friends with him, no siree, not him, not now, not EVER, not… not…

Sniper felt a weight press against his side. Pausing his reading, he turned to his right to see the RED Scout slumped against him, fast asleep. Great, now he was never moving. He slowly grabbed the book he was reading before, slipped the bookmark out, and continued to read. He'd move Scout eventually, but for now he was content with just reading.

 

 

 

 

Soldier quickly made his way through the base, the limp body of the BLU Engineer in his arms. It had been about five minutes after Demoman ran off with the intel and Soldier could hear the sounds of the fight dissipating, causing him to definitely _not_ panic, Soldier never panics, never even once, maybe _you’re_ the one that’s panicking, ever thought of that?

Soldier spotted the stairs leading down to the sewers and, still certainly _not panicking_ , made his way down. He thought he heard shouting coming from below, but he figured he could take a couple maggots down if he had to. Luckily and slightly worrying for him, there was no sign that anyone was even there when he got to the bottom of the stairs. He took a moment to catch his breath and reconsider what the hell he was doing, gently laying the BLU Engineer on the floor near a health pack. He'd definitely need a plan if he was going to go through with this.

 

Engineer woke up to a cold and slightly wet metal floor, a stark contrast to the dirt he had last remembered being on. His head throbbed, some sort of red liquid (blood, he soon realised,) running down the side of his face. From what he could tell he had somehow been transported to the sewers, which was a long enough distance from the intel room that Engineer doubted he could have made it there himself.

Sitting up and checking his pockets, he was relieved to find that he still had his wrench and shotgun on him, providing him with at least a small margin of self defense. He attempted to stand up using a nearby wall as support, but when the room started spinning around him he was forced to slide back down the wall into a more comfortable position with a loud thud. Fuck, this was bad. If he couldn't get to his team in time, he was as good as dead.

He suddenly heard footsteps coming towards him. Loud ones, almost like marching.

Soldier.

At first Engineer had a hope that the BLU Soldier had come looking for him, eagerly sitting up to great him, but as soon as he caught a glimpse of a crimson coloured uniform his hope died instantly. The first thought that came to his mind was to play dead, which surprised him considering he had his shotgun in his hand, which was a much better option, he told himself as the RED Soldier came closer to him. Engineer steadied his hand on the trigger, and took a shaky breath as he waited for the RED to come into range.

Soldier on the other hand was completely oblivious that Engineer had regained his consciousness, and got the shock of his life when a shotgun was aimed at his face as he stepped closer to him, stumbling back in surprise.

“WHAT IN THE-”

“Back away slowly and you don’t get hurt, understand?” Engineer attempted to say calmly. (And failed.)

“But I helped you-” Soldier tried to reason with him.

“As far as I know you didn’t do diddly squat, now back off son.” Engineer held his gun up, adjusting his grip.

“I appreciate the enthusiasm there, but I’m trying to help you, you cow-herding canadian! Now put the gun down, and we can…” Soldier scrambled for words. He wasn’t used to this. Most situations he was thrust into could be solved by a couple of well placed rockets. This, upsettingly, was not one of them. “... talk it out.”

“And how am I supposed to trust ya? You’ve got a gun on you, only fair to keep mine with me.” Engineer snapped back.

Soldier paused, considering what to do next, which wasn’t something he had to do often. Engineer sensed the awkward pause, lowering his gun before quickly raising it again when Soldier took out his rocket launcher. Soldier held it for a moment, seeming to reassure himself that he was making the right decision before tossing it into the nearby water, wincing at the splash that it made. He quickly followed up with his own shotgun, and finally his precious shovel, which he gingerly placed in the water instead of just lobbing it in like the other. He hated being vulnerable, parting with his weapons like this and it showed. Still, Engineer instinctively moved away when Soldier started walking towards him.

“God, you’re more of a coward than I thought.” Soldier chuckled. “Trust me, I’m completely unarmed.” Engineer sighed, dropping his shotgun in the floor but keeping his wrench on his person. Just in case.

“Alright, what do you want?” Engineer said with a tone of defeat in his voice.

“To get you back out there. Now, stand on your feet and keep moving soldier! There’s battles to be won!”

Engineer tried again to stand up, wobbling on his feet. As soon as he started to fall however, he felt Soldier’s hands steady him, holding him in place as he tried to stop the room from spinning out of control.

“Worse than just a scratch huh?” Engineer could barely make out the words the RED was saying, hazily slouching over before snapping back into his usual posture and stumbling in place. Slowly but surely the room came back into focus, and he could clearly see Soldier in front of him.

“It appears you’re not fit to move out just yet.” He stated as a fact.

Engineer chuckled anxiously. “You got that right. In fact, I don’t think I’m real fit to go anywhere right now. It’d be best to just leave me here and move on.”

“Nonsense!” Engineer winced at Soldier’s sudden enthusiastic shout. “Only a coward would sit and wait for a miracle to happen! You’re coming with me soldier.”

“You sure about that?”

“Absolutely!” Engineer thought he could almost tell that Soldier had lowered his voice (for him?) ever so slightly. “There’s no sense in leaving a man behind in war, even if he is the enemy! You must help who you can!”

Well then. Engineer knew the Soldiers on both teams had some… _askew_ politics, but at least he wasn’t going to kill him on the spot. He counted that as a win.

“Don’t suppose I have must in the way of a choice, do I?”

“Nope!” Soldier replied cheerfully. “Now, I will grab my guns and we will march forward, understand?”

Well, he couldn’t argue with that logic.

“Alright then, lead the way.”

 

 

 

 

Scout woke up to Sniper shaking his shoulders forcefully, snapping him out of his very pleasant dream.

“ _The fuck are you_ -”

“Keep it down you idiot, they can’t know you’re here!” Scout could make out Sniper’s panicked expression in the fading sunlight.

“Wait wait wait, who?” Great, now Scout was panicking too.

“Our Spy. He’s at the door.”

“Well, what’s he doing?”

 

“Looking for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I'm trying to keep them in character ok)  
> I'm going to try writing longer chapters in the future, so there's going to be a bit of a longer pause between chapters. I'll still try to update when I can though!  
> Also, sorry for leaving you guys on a cliffhanger in this chapter, I'm trying to set things up for the next one.  
> Anyways, hope you're enjoying it so far!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey you know how I said it would be a much longer chapter?  
> I lied

The closet was cramped as all hell, filled with various camping equipment and empty jars. Add in one very badly hurt and absolutely terrified 25 year old mercenary and it was stuffed to the brim, the doors threatening to burst open. It was the first place Sniper spotted in his camper for Scout to hide in, and although he wished that there was some other option that was less confined and cramped, it would have to make do. Although, he’d have to ask Sniper about some of the stuff in this thing. 

He heard a knock, and a door opening near him, shoes stepping onto the metal floor of the camper.

Scout covered his mouth to silence his breathing, and for probably the first time in his life, he stayed perfectly still.

 

"The 'ell are you doing here?"

"Please, bushman. I would never set foot in your filthy camper unless it was important." The BLU Spy scoffed as he stepped into the light coming from the window, an air of  arrogance importance around him.

"Oh I know," Sniper circled around him, standing in front of the closet Scout had been haphazardly shoved into. "But you didn't answer my question. What are you  _ doing here _ ?"

"It appears that the RED team's Scout has vanished." Spy said, tone dropping down to an annoyed growl.

"Since when do we care? The Administrator will take care of it, and we'll get a new guy to shoot in the head. What's the bother then?"

"There's been recent… developments involving both of our teams."

"Developments?" Sniper tried his best to stay calm or at least appear so, untensing his shoulders as much as he could bear.

"Not soon after, our Medic has also vanished in much of the same manner, along with the RED Soldier, my counterpart, and our Engineer. I know he was a friend of yours."

"He still is,  _ asshole _ ." Sniper didn't realise how aggravated he was getting. "He's definitely still alive."

"That's uncertain-"

"Trust me. He's _ alive _ ." Sniper stood up to his full height, towering over the BLU Spy. Scout shifted slightly to get a better look from his vantage point in the closet.

The BLU Spy sighed. "Very well. He's alive, according to you. I'm just suggesting that you keep a stern lookout for any of them. I personally do not want a decrease in pay while we wait for replacements and I am sure you feel the same way."

"Just. Go."

"As you wish." The BLU Spy raised his hands in mock defeat as he backed away to the door. Sniper let out a quiet sigh as he nervously glanced back to the closet, hoping and praying that the BLU Spy didn't catch a glimpse of Scout.

"Oh, one more thing?" Sniper jumped at the sound, cursing under his breath. 

"If you do find a RED, kill them.  _ Immediately. _ " 

And with that, the BLU Spy left, a sly looking smirk plastered on his face. Sniper wasn't sure if he had figured out who he was hiding or if he was just pleased that he got the jump on him, but he didn't like the look of it. However, he couldn't contemplate how much the BLU Spy knew for much longer as Scout quite literally fell out of the closet, taking some of his equipment with him as he tumbled to the floor .

"You ok?" Sniper started to move to help him before being shoved away by Scout.

"I'm fine. Just need to re-adjust for a bit. Not used to sitting still for that long." Scout stood back up with much effort on his part while extending his arms upwards in a stretch.

"Oh yes, because sitting still for all of five minutes is so incredibly draining," Sniper said with sarcasm dripping from his tone of voice. "I can only imagine the hardship that I put you through."

"I'm serious." Scout replied. “Appreciate you standin’ up to that bastard anyways. I knew you were tall, but  _ holy shit _ .”

“That’s probably the weirdest compliment I’ve ever gotten.”

"You’re welcome. So, about your team's Engineer-"

"He's fine. He has to be." Sniper quickly retorted.

"Ok, ok, I got the message. He's good. And Spy disappears all the time, so he's probably fine. But your Medic's gone too?  _ And _ Soldier? Believe me when I say that you always know where he is. He's  _ never quiet _ . If he was lost anywhere, we'd know exactly where he was." Scout took on a more serious face that Sniper would have laughed at if not for the context.

"So what you're saying is?" Sniper questioned, almost feeling stress along with Scout for his team's residential patriotic nightmare.

"Something serious is going on. And I'm not hanging around to find out what it is." Scout pushed Sniper aside, limping his way to the door leading outside.

"Not in that condition you are!" Sniper protested, quickly stepping in between Scout and the door. "Look at yourself. You can barely walk!"

"Who are you, Medic? Get outta the way!" Scout was attempting to shove Sniper out of the way now, much to little avail.

"At least let me help you, asshole!" 

Scout froze. "How? What you gonna do, make a crutch out of thin air? Last time I checked, you can't do magic!"

Sniper stood in place, considering his options for a while before grabbing his rifle off of the wall and standing it next to Scout. Then, tossing it aside, he dove into his closet, pulling out various tools like a shovel, tent spikes, another different rifle, and more, each time standing it next to Scout's shoulders. Scout himself almost unconsciously stood still throughout the whole thing, getting the feeling that the BLU would be pissed if he moved even an inch. Finally, Sniper found a large stick that he had taken to using as a poker during the camping trips he took during his vacations. Scout could see that it more or less measured up to his shoulder height and, seeming fairly satisfied, Sniper handed it to him.

"Uhh, what do I do with this again?" Scout asked, utterly confused. 

"What, not even a thank you?"

"All you did was search in your closet for a bit, pull out a stick, and hand it to me. The fuck do I do with this."

" _ You've got to be fu _ \- It's a crutch, idiot. You use it to walk with." Sniper opened the door of his trailer and stepped outside into the somewhat cool night air. "Now are you coming or not?"

“I’d like to know why the fuck you’re dragging me along with you!”

“Do you  _ want  _ to die? ‘Cause I won’t stop you. In fact, you can be my guest!” Sniper gestured outside.

“Of course I don’t asshole! But you’re a fuckin’ BLU! You’re not supposed to do this!”

“You think I don’t know that?! Now grab the fucking stick and  _ move _ ! And keep your voice down! Do you want that suit to come back?”

“N-no. But-”

“Then I’d  _ suggest _ that you come with me.”

Scout followed close behind him, aggressively plunging the stick into the dirt as he went.

  
  
  


“Vell, scheiße.”

“What  _ now _ ?” Spy turned to Medic with a thoroughly annoyed tone of voice.

“Your team is victorious, according to the Administrator. The fight has ceased. Vhich means-”

“They will realise we are missing.” Spy finished Medic’s train of thought, earning an irritated look from the BLU. From where the unlikely pair was standing, they could hear the not so distant sounds of the humiliation round taking affect, the pained screams of the blue clad mercenaries mixing with the almost demonic laughter of the RED team. Medic shuddered at the sound, thankful to be away from the action. Even given the circumstances of his escape.

“You could still make it back if you hurried.” Spy considered, grabbing Medic’s attention. “Get into your spawn at the last second, make up some wonderful tale about running into a particularly dangerous but entirely skilled and professional Spy. No one would be the wiser.” 

“Except for you, of course.”

“Yes, well, it is in my job description to take care of classified information. This certainly counts as classified, no?”

“Quite true.”

“I assure you, there is nothing stopping you from leaving me to my own devices. In fact, you have been free to head back this entire time.”

He wasn’t lying. Apart from the initial panicked wrist grab, (The man had a death grip, Medic was sure of that.) Spy had for the most part let him be, even borderline ignoring his requests to go back.

“To be honest, I suppose I’ve become invested in this little adventure of yours.” Medic mused, almost surprised with himself.

Spy scoffed. “ _ My _ little adventure? Believe me when I say this is on a much higher level of emergency that a ‘little adventure.’ And now that we are presumed missing as well, this inevitably reach Ms. Pauling, and as a result the Administrator-”

“Do you alvays ramble like this?”

Spy paused. “... No. Not usually anyways. You can chalk it up to stress if you’d like.”

“Oh I already have. I am a doctor, after all.” Medic smirked, pleased with himself.

“ _ Were _ . You were a doctor. I’m certain that you haven’t regained your medical license for mercenary work?” Spy said smugly.

Medic’s face fell, adopting a more serious look in its place. “Don’t remind me.” 

Ah. That didn’t go as planned. “ _ Way to go, Spy. You’ve lost any trust you may have had with the BLU. That’ll definitely come in handy. No, stop stressing over it. You’re a goddamn professional. Act like it.” _ Spy stood in awkward silence, mentally scolding himself for his own mistakes as Medic started to pace in a small circle, no doubt trying to think of a plan going forward. He turned to look at Medic ever so slightly, coming to the conclusion that none of this situation could be salvaged in any way. Honestly, this whole problem of  theirs his could have been avoided with ease, and he could be continuing along his merry way without having to worry about taking care of someone who he had killed many times and would continue to kill afterwards if all went well. If he had just ignored that damned BLU on his way to the base…

Suddenly, Medic’s face lit up in surprise, staring at the mud in front of him.

“Spy! Come over here!” He waved his hand towards himself, motioning for Spy to observe the slightly damp dirt with him. More than likely his  _ incredibly expensive _ suit was already ruined from his romp in that filthy sewer system, so the mud wouldn’t cause any more damage. Physical damage, that is. His poor suit…

“Yes, what is it?” Spy sighed, gingerly stepping through the muck.

“Take a good look. Surely this can be the start of a great escape?”

Spy took a good hard look, scrounging the mud with his eyes for a sign of… anything really.

“Vell?”

“It’s certainly mud.” 

Medic slapped a hand across his face. “Ugh, you  _ schweinhund _ \- the footprints!”

Spy looked again, only now spotting the indent of a set of footprints in the mud, leading away from either base and into the surrounding free ground.

“Oh.” He replied, embarrassed. “Those footprints.”

“If that troubled you I vorry for your future career as a spy, mein freund.” Medic spat back, thoroughly annoyed with Spy.

“But why are there only three?” Spy attempted to change the topic of conversation.

Now it was Medic’s turn to be clueless. “Only three?”

“There are three footprints, two belong to the same shoe and one to another. Unless someone had the grotesque and quite frankly stupid idea to plant someone else’s foot into the dirt, I’d say one was supporting the other, possibly with a broken leg.” Medic watched him go off in his deductions, unbeknownst to Spy himself. “Along with the blood following behind, I’d say that this person was seriously hurt… ah yes.”

“Vhat is it?”

Spy pointed at the third footprint, smaller hole lining the inside of the print. “Cleat markings. Evidently belonging to Scout, since he’s the only one with those infernal looking shoes.”

“A modern day Sherlock Holmes, ja?” Spy winced as the name was butchered by Medic’s heavy accent, but the compliment got through to his ego.   

“Ah, you flatter me.” Spy said with a healthy dose of sarcasm thrown in. “Nonetheless, there’s a good chance that he’s the Scout we’re looking for.”

“You’re looking for, you mean. I barely have any part in this, remember?” Medic crossed his arms.

“You do now, mon ami.”

“I vas never your friend, arschloch.”

“Ah, why the sudden hostility?”

“I may have just conveniently remembered that we are  _ enemies _ . It would do you good to remember the same.”

“Later, after Scout is returned to my team safe and sound.”

“And what if it’s my team’s Scout? What then?” Medic retaliated.

“In that case, I am simply a nearby Demoman who heard his pained cries from a mile away, and called a Medic over to help the wound heal properly.” Spy replied, doing a practically perfect scottish accent in mockery of the demolitions expert on the bridge above them.  

Medic mumbled some very choice words in german under his breath before following the trail of prints, Spy following close behind him with what could very much have been the smuggest look the world has ever seen.

None of them remembered the first set of footprints on the way.

  
  
  


Alright. If they weren’t lost before, they sure as hell were now. Engineer tried his best to keep pace with Soldier’s strides as they walked… away? He wasn’t sure about Soldier’s plan, and Engineer was 99 percent sure that the RED didn’t know where they were going either. All he knew was that they were nowhere near the fight, instead heading to where Engineer vaguely remembered Sniper’s camper was. Maybe he’d run into him, and they’d all get some well deserved help.

“You sure about where we’re headin’?” He lightly jogged to Soldier’s side, being rewarded with a terrible headache shortly after. Great.

“Positive! I know these trails like the back of my hand!” Soldier replied enthusiastically.

“...Alrighty then. I’m trusting you.”

They walked for a while more in silence, with only the occasional slip from Engineer and positive reinforcement from Soldier, who seemed to forget how badly injured Engineer was half of the time. It was almost eerily quiet, with only the sounds of footsteps surrounding them, echoing.

“You think the fight’s over back there?” Engineer tried to start a conversation with the RED in front of him.

Soldier stopped and turned his head back, listening. “... It would appear so.”

“Too quiet?”

“No. There’s no explosions. So, either Demoman’s dead for good, or the fight’s over.”

“That’s some sound logic if you ask me.” Engineer chuckled.

“Are you talking back to me private?” Soldier said, dead serious.

“I’m- I’m not. I was just laughin’. I swear.” 

“Good. Now, let’s keep moving!” Soldier switched back to his usual aggressive enthusiasm.

Engineer made a mental note to not piss him off in the future.

Suddenly, Soldier stopped dead in his tracks, throwing Engineer off guard as he almost stumbled into the RED, barely stepping back in time.

“What in-” He began.

“SHUSH!” Soldier shouted back, grabbing his shoulders “Tell me you hear that too.”

For a second it was perfectly quiet, the faint rustling of leaves in the wind the only sound. Engineer took a moment to appreciate the silence around them before snapping to a sound somewhat near them.

“ _ Footsteps _ .” Soldier whispered softly, a hint of surprise in his voice.

“People.” Engineer finished his train of thought.

Maybe they weren’t so alone after all. 

  
  
  


Much like Engineer, Scout had some serious doubts that Sniper even knew where he was going. They had been trudging along for what seemed like hours (it wasn’t) and Scout’s leg was starting to throb with pain again (it was).

“How much more of this shit do I have to go through again?” He pulled up next to Sniper, digging his stick into the dirt.

“Not much longer.”

“Wow, thanks. Real specific.” Sniper rolled his eyes.

“Listen, you’ll know when we’re close, I can guarantee that much.” He tried to reassure Scout.

“And how long ‘till that happens, huh?”

Sniper fell silent.

“Exactly. We don’t know where the hell we’re going, do we?”

“Oi! Of course I know where I’m going!” Sniper retorted.

“Really.” Scout turned to him. “Then why have we passed that rock about five times?”

“...Shit.”

“Told you.” Scout started to move ahead, still being surprisingly fast for someone with a mangled leg. “Try to keep up, Snipes!” The words fell out of his mouth before he could think about what he was saying, prompting him to stop in his tracks.

Sniper froze. “‘Snipes’? You’re calling me ‘Snipes” now?”

“Y-yeah. So what?” Scout awkwardly turned back to him.

“What is that, some sort of nickname?”

“N-no!” Scout snapped, flustered. “It’s a… an insult!”

Sniper raised his eyebrows. “That’s a horrible insult.”

“Well it is one, so there. Consider yourself insulted.” He crossed his arms in triumph.

“Sounds more like a pet name than anything.”

“Oh fuck you.” Scout continued to walk forward, ignoring Sniper’s cackling laughter behind him.

“Aw, why the harsh words? I- *wheeze* I thought we were friends!” Sniper spoke between chuckles.

“Just shut up and point the way.”

“What, you don’t find it funny?”

“You see this face?” He flipped back to Sniper, who was on his knees with laughter. “No emotion.”

“That blush begs to differ mate.”

“Go to hell.” Scout resolved to never talk again as Sniper practically rolled on the ground in hysterics, barely able to keep up with him as he trudged along in stony silence.

“Will you shut up already?” Scout clenched his teeth as he kept moving.

“Believe me, I’m trying. I really am!” Eventually Sniper calmed down, only occasionally chuckling to himself.

He pretty much went completely silent when they heard Soldier’s shout, however.

  
  
  


The camper was deserted, various books and what seemed like camping equipment scattered around the small but cozy living space. As Spy moved in to get a better look, he absentmindedly kicked a glass jar, sending it across the floor. He looked at it in disgust. At least it was cleaner than the RED Sniper’s own van. Now  _ that _ was disgustingly cluttered. At least there was something resembling order here.

“You’re certain the tracks lead here?” Medic questioned from behind him, entering the camper for himself.

“Positive.” He gingerly picked up a nearby book titled  _ Jurassic Park _ , tossing it down shortly after. The sooner he could find Scout, the better.

Medic on the other hand was pocketing some of the empty jars strewn about for himself, most likely to store various organs in for… research purposes. Spy honestly didn’t give a damn what the BLU did, as long as it didn’t lead to his death. The battle was over, so respawn had most likely been shut off. There was no room for error now.

“Vonder vhat the hurry was to leave.” Medic pondered out loud.

“Well, if I was keeping a injured enemy alive, I’d have every reason to keep moving, no? It’s probable that some member of his team came to warn him of something he already knows, leading him to panic and grab what he can.” Spy replied.

“Very accurate, I must say.” He mumbled under his breath.

“Back to the compliments doctor?”

“Oh please, don’t get used to it. Besides, that isn’t the point, dummkopf. We should keep moving anyways. I got what I came for.” He shook the empty jar in his hand for emphasis. “I saw a pair of tracks leading away that I think you’d be much more interested in than compliments on your detective skills.’

“Touché.”

As they left, Spy made sure to put everything back into its place, carefully arranging the fallen equipment back onto the floor and picking up the jar he had clumsily kicked across the metal floor. He even pressured Medic into returning some of the jars he had taken for himself, unable to bargain the last jar off of his person. Finally, content that the inside was just as cluttered as before, he carefully left the door ajar as it was before, and continued on his way.

The BLU Spy himself found this quite intriguing.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uhh yeet


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hhhhhh this probably has a million typos in it but ah well, what can you do really

Before Scout could react to the yell he had just heard Sniper had shoved him down into a crouching position, earning a loud, almost complaining pain from his injured leg. Sniper looked as stony faced as ever, but he knew that the BLU was probably scared shitless. Not like he _wasn’t_ , but that’s besides the point. What mattered in that moment was that someone else was out there, in the same area, minding their own business, and they just had to be chatting it away like high school fucking sweethearts, didn’t they? 

“Wait, what?” Scout stopped his train of thought for a moment to replay what he just said before Sniper tensed up again, leading Scout to look in the same direction and- 

Oh. 

Shit. 

Soldier was never a man to pick a fight with, especially the RED Soldier. Scout could easily speak from experience that Soldier had an incredibly firm mindset, albeit insane, and a very strict set of personal rules. One of those rules basically boiled down to ‘shoot the bad guys’, and he never had a soft spot for being buddies with the enemy. (Not after last time, a least.) 

All of these points lined up to death, death, and more death for the both of them. He had already avoided dying today, he surely didn’t want to try his luck again. Something in the back of his mind got brave enough to whisper some stuff about it being a bit more than that, but that’s not important. He just needed an opening... 

Scout tugged at Sniper’s sleeve to grab his attention, causing him to jump in response. 

“That’s…” 

“What, you think I’m blind? Of course I see him!” Sniper barked back in a hoarse whisper. “Now keep it down, I’m gonna find a way out.” 

“Really? Cause I don’t see one.” Scout said sarcastically. 

“Now is _really not the time Scout_!” Sniper hissed through his teeth as Soldier kept moving forwards, perfectly oblivious to the hushed argument happening a few feet away. Soldier himself had gone to inspect the voices, with Engineer lagging behind him. The BLU had said he wanted to try out walking on his own, but Soldier couldn’t tell if he was actually making an attempt to walk normally or he was just completely out of energy. Either way, he couldn’t release him back to his team yet. 

“Listen, can’t we just make a break for it?” 

“I’m telling you it’s not that easy!” 

“Easy my ASS-” 

Both Scout and Sniper peered up slowly to look up at the RED soldier, shotgun in hand. Scout suddenly felt like he was stuck in some shitty live action tv show, and he had just been caught dead in the punchline, just as the ad break would start and leave you on just enough of a cliffhanger to keep you invested. He half expected a laugh track to start playing in the background as the mercs stood there in equal amounts of shock. 

Well that was it, he supposed. He’s dead. Six feet under. Deceased, if you will. He supposed he’d see the white light at any time now, moving slowly but surely towards him and he was being picked up by something and he could hear the blood rushing through his veins and he was off the ground and moving somewhere and what the fuck was happening- 

He looked up to see Sniper carrying him bridal style and sprinting full force into the surrounding wood-like area. 

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!” Scout yelled, still stunned by the encounter. 

“GETTING YOU AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE!” Sniper shouted back with equal shock in his voice. 

“I CAN DO THAT MYSELF, ASSHOLE-” 

“OH REALLY?” 

“I’M NOT A PRINCESS, I CAN-” 

Scout heard a shotgun cocking behind them. 

“Nevermind, I’ll shut up now.” 

Sniper grunted in response, too focused on running to reply properly. Soldier was following close behind, fueling Sniper’s adrenaline. This was bad. He’s going to die. _Scout’s_ going to die. He was starting to really regret not trying harder in gym class. Was that really the thing he was think about? Not getting an A in gym? Seriously? 

Eventually the footsteps faded away into background noise, as Sniper dove behind a tree and collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath. Scout tumbled out of his arms, quickly sitting up and checking around them for signs of their pursuer. He shuffled next to Sniper, adjusting his leg to a more comfortable position and checking his ‘splint’ to make sure it was still in the same place. They both took a moment to catch their breath, tension circling them like a vulture.

“So.” 

“Yeah.” Sniper nodded, still quite out of breath. 

“Fuck.” Scout looked away for a moment, the gravity of the situation settling in for the unlikely duo. “Well, I guess we should write our wills while we still have time.” 

Sniper chuckled, Scout smiling in response. “Didn’t realise you could be so dark.” 

“I have my moments!” Scout’s face went back to a neutral expression. “But seriously, this isn’t how I thought I’d go out, y’know? Thought it be in the middle of some huge fight, I’d step out in front of my one true love, the bullet would pierce my chest, etcetera. Not with my back against a fucking tree, with a fucked up leg to boot.” 

“Now hold on, we’re not dead yet asshole!” Sniper gently shook his shoulders. “Don’t get all depressed on me here. Besides, aren’t you the person trying to talk me up a wall?” 

“Not… not always.” 

“... Alright, listen here.” Sniper stood up, grabbing Scout’s arm and pulling him up with him. He could hear Soldier closing in on the pair, but he did his best to ignore it. “When he comes here, you know what we’re gonna do? We’re gonna fucking punch them as hard as we can, ok?” 

Scout had a skeptical look on his face. “... Really?” 

“Yes, really. I’m sick and fucking tired of all the running. Let’s fight back, kick their ankles, bite their fingers, I don’t even know! This is probably the lack of air talking, but I’m not running away from this and you aren’t either!” 

“... You know what? Yeah.” 

“Yeah?” 

Scout nodded vigorously. “Fuck yeah!” 

“FUCK YEAH!” Sniper screamed back. 

“FUCK YE-OW! SHIT!” Scout suddenly took a knee. He had grabbed the kukri that Sniper had used as a splint and yanked it out of the bandages wrapped around his leg like some great ancient sword out of stone in his excitement and resulting blood loss. With nothing to hold his leg up it bent backwards, causing him to fall quite suddenly. Despite the pain however, Scout laughed at his own predicament, steadying himself on Sniper who was giggling with him. 

“Hey, if this really is the end, at least we’ll go out smiling!” Scout said, still chuckling to himself. 

“There he is, that’s the chatterbox I remember.” 

“Now that’s a lame insult.” Scout smiled, annoyance lingering at the back of his mind. Sniper muttered something that Scout couldn't make out under his breath in response. By now Soldier had gotten close enough that they could hear him readying his rocket launcher, along with a different voice telling him to calm down. Scout started to worry again, his panic getting the better of him after his moment of excitement. 

Before Scout could really think about what he was doing he grabbed Sniper and pulled him into a hug, tears coming to his eyes. He didn’t want to die, and he knew for a fact that the BLU didn’t want to either, so he figured he should at least do something to comfort the both of them. (Or was it just Sniper he was trying to comfort? Who knew. Scout wasn’t sure he even wanted to know.) Either way, Sniper froze up at the sudden attack, shoulders tensing before slowly dropping back down before awkwardly returning the hug. It wasn’t the most comfortable, but Scout felt like he got his point across. 

“Thanks.” Scout muttered into Snipers shirt. It smelled vaguely of coffee and cigarettes, and felt oddly softer than he was expecting. It wasn’t that bad. “For everything, I mean.” 

He could feel Sniper take a deep shuddering breath. Was he crying too? “Aw, I didn’t do anything much. I just bandaged a leg and argued a lot. I should be the one thanking you.” 

“Really?” Scout said incredulously. “If it wasn’t for you I’d still be stuck in that fuckin’ sewer! You kinda saved my life back there. I’d say that’s pretty fucking important.” His tone softened. 

“I guess I can thank you too.” Sniper finally truly hugged Scout back, bracing for when Soldier caught up to them. Any second now… 

“Well, if that ain’t the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.” 

That wasn’t Soldier. 

  


  


  


  


About halfway into their search for Scout, Spy got a sense of danger, lingering in the air. He turned back to Medic, who was busy with following the trail ahead of them. 

“Doctor?” 

“Please, Medic for now.” Medic turned towards him, a slight smile on his face. It looked slighty murderous to Spy, but he supposed that was just the way his smile was, evil german doctor or not. “There’s no need to be so formal, ve’ve both had equal opportunity to murder each other. Goes to show that ve trust each other enough to keep ourselves alive.” 

“Alright then, _Medic_. I suppose you’ve realised that we’re being followed?” 

He chuckled. “Ah, paranoid as ever I suppose.” 

“Believe me, I am dead serious.” 

Medic laughed to himself again, coming out somewhat forced. “Not yet, anyvays. I suppose ve must keep moving forwards, ja?” 

Spy grabbed Medic’s shoulder, startling the BLU for a moment. “You truly don’t feel like we’re being followed?” He asked, his voice barely above a whisper. 

“... Nein, I’m sure there’s someone else.” Medic replied, slowly reaching for his bonesaw. 

“They might not have seen us.” Spy straightened his posture. “I could disguise myself as one of your team’s own.” 

Medic scoffed. “You’re villing to take that chance?” 

“Do you see another way?” 

Medic grumbled, pulling out his medigun begrudgingly. 

“Don’t fuck it up, schweinhund.” 

“I’ll try, doc.” Spy replied, his voice adopting a scottish accent as smoke enveloped him, revealing the BLU Demoman in his place. Medic shuddered, flashing back to the numerous backstabs he'd had to endure, particularly a very vivid memory of being backstabbed by the 'Heavy' he was preparing to ubercharge in his early days. One of his worst moments. 

“I svear, I’ll never get used to that.” Medic sarcastically chuckled. 

“Believe me, neither will I.” 

Medic got a confused look on his face before continuing forward, beginning to overheal ‘Demoman’ as they moved forwards into the woods surrounding them. Suddenly a loud shout rang through the air, startling Medic and Spy enough to cause them to jump. Spy, quickly recovering from the initial shock, immediately recognising Scouts voice from years of experience. Forgetting who he was disguised as momentarily he yanked on Medic’s wrist, snapping him out of his shock and causing him to lose his balance. 

“Vhat the hell?!” He turned to Spy with annoyance dripping from his voice. 

“That was Scout, I know it.” Spy replied with a steely determination in his voice. 

“Everything leads to Scout…” Nonetheless, Medic grudgingly trailed close behind, keeping an eye out for whatever or whoever had caused the scream. 

For some reason, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that they were being watched. Damnit Spy. They didn't both need to be paranoid. 

  


  


  


  


Holy shit. 

That was Scout. 

And Sniper. 

Hiding in a bush. 

_Together_? 

Before Soldier had time to react, they had sped into the forest surrounding them, still bickering as they dissipated from view. He took a moment to breathe, still startled from the encounter. Soon, Engineer came running, putting a hand on Soldier's shoulder gently, not wanting to startle the RED. 

"Was that..." Soldier turned to him, a confused look on his face. 

"Heh, should have known he couldn't muster up the courage to finish that RED off." Engineer smiled grimly. "Got himself into more trouble than he could handle, huh?" 

"Those cowards! They didn't even have the courage to stand up and fight! You would think that a mercenary would shake his fist at least!" 

"They were at a real disadvantage there, Soldier." 

"Disadvantage my ass! If I was stuck in a bush with a BLU leering over me, I'd retaliate if it killed me!" 

"Might as well..." Engineer muttered, before turning to Soldier with a calm smile on his face. "Tell you what. No matter how well they could have fought back, you did give the two of them a grand old scare there. Mind if I go ahead this time? I'm sure I'm much less of a threat without a sentry to gun 'em down." 

Soldier got an odd feeling at Engineer's proposal. He couldn't quite place it yet. All he knew was that he sure as hell didn't like it. 

"But you're still hurt." 

Engineer got a perplexed look on his face before quickly returning to normal. "I'm sure I can hold my own against 'em. 'Sides, who said I didn't want you to tag along?" 

And the feeling was gone, just as fast as it had appeared. 

"Just... don't go too far. You're tough as nails, but you could still die." 

He chuckled, causing Soldier to pause. That wasn't a joke. Why the hell was he laughing? He was being dead serious. "I won't go too far, trust me." 

"Promise?" The BLU froze in place, slowly turning back to Soldier's almost guilty face. Engineer had never noticed the RED's dismay, but by now it was clear as day. 

"You always this soft with the enemy?" 

"You're not." 

Alright, this was too much. "Not what?" 

Dawning realisation in his eyes, Soldier quickly returned to his usual state of patriotic energy, albeit with an air of embarrassment. "N-Not fit for war, of course! If not for me, you wouldn't have survived a day out there! It is my duty to help others, and dammit that's what I'll do! Now promise you won't do something out of line!" His face softened again. "Please?" 

Fuck. "Alright, I promise." 

"Good. Now, let's move out!" 

Just as he finished his sentence, Soldier and Engineer heard a cry of pain near them, followed by scattered giggling. The RED was quick to pull out his rocket launcher in fear, readying himself to fight before having his gun slowly lowered by Engineer. 

"That'll do Soldier, that'll do." Engineer said as calmly as he could muster, a voice crack betraying his panic. The last thing they needed was a misplaced rocket miles away from help. He felt a tinge of worry that Soldier was this jumpy already from the first encounter, but he decided to shake it off. 

Although he could feel his god awful headache coming back for another round in the ring, Engineer trudged on at a quicker pace than usual. He didn’t want to lose the trail, and the sooner he could get back to his base the better. 

He supposed he’d have to say goodbye to Soldier when this whole situation died down. Now that’d be a tearjerker. He had been so unexpectedly (if aggressively) kind to him, almost like the RED knew exactly what to do in that sort of situation. Made sense, he had fought in the war. But to have the compassion to spare him? Something else was at work here, he knew it. 

He also knew that Sniper couldn’t finish the job if his life depended on it. Damn him and his emotions! If it wasn’t for him, he wouldn’t be in this whole mess! He’d be back at the BLU base, nothing the worse for wear and a nice drink in his hand! 

And Soldier… 

Well, Engineer wasn’t sure where Soldier would be, but turning his head back and seeing a large, goofy grin where a chiseled jaw should be as he tried and failed to catch a nearby insect? 

If that didn’t melt his heart, he didn’t know what would. 

A part of him hated how much he cared for the RED. After all of this had blown over, they’d be forced to go back to the same old routine, eventually forgetting their temporary partnership. For some unknown reason, he didn’t quite want this friendship to end just yet. 

Soldier didn’t either, but he hadn’t quite yet realized it. 

Engineer stepped into a clearing, where he could clearly see Scout and Sniper crying in each other’s arms. He could see the loose, bloody bandages wrapped around Scouts leg. He knew that Sniper could be a real sap when he wanted too, but this was a bit too much. 

“Well, if that ain’t the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.” Engineer only realized that he had said it out loud when Sniper turned to look at him, panic in his eyes. 

And then Soldier caught up with him, making everything ten times worse. 

“Engineer! I have come to the conclusion that- _oh_.” Whatever Soldier was about to ramble on about came to a sudden halt as the two pairs stained down each other. Scout had a very vivid moment of déjà vu, frozen on the spot with fear. 

“Now, I can explain.“ Sniper began. 

  


  


  


  


“Thank you all for coming to this emergency meeting.” 

The BLU Spy looked out to the large table, where a multitude of red and blue clad mercenaries sat, occasionally sharing a death glare between them. The BLU Spy paid them no mind. 

“It has come to my attention that many of our teammates have gone missing.” 

“No shit, Sherlock.” The BLU Scout muttered before continuing to doodle aimlessly on a piece of scrap paper. 

“And,” The BLU Spy continued, unfazed by his team’s Scout. “I have reasons to believe that our Medic has been taken hostage.” 

This earned collective gasps from around the table, most notably the RED Medic. He himself wasn’t quite fond of his doppelgänger, but he couldn’t help but feel that whatever happened to his BLU counterpart could very well happen to him. 

“By who?” The RED Heavy asked before returning to giving the BLU Scout a death glare. 

“The RED Spy himself.” 

A roar of questions and disapproval rose up from the RED side of the table in response, even prompting the RED Pyro to mutter angrily into their gas mask. 

“I have caught him dragging out Medic by force into the forest surrounding up against his own free will, and have borne witness to a straight up fight between the two. I fear for his life.” Yes, Spy knew how much he had twisted the words to suit his needs, but the rest of the mercenaries didn’t need to know that, although he had an odd feeling that neither Demoman on the opposing teams believed a word he said. 

“And the others?” The fear came through clearly in the RED Sniper’s voice. 

“I caught a glimpse of the RED Soldier with my team’s Engineer.” 

“Which means that…” The BLU Scout’s voice trailed off as the gravity of the situation settled in. 

“Dear god.” The BLU Spy was shocked to hear such a serious tone in the RED Soldier’s voice, but he quickly moved on. 

“Nonetheless, we must retrieve our teammates at any cost.” 

“And if the rest retaliate?” The RED Engineer questioned. 

“At _any_ cost.” The BLU Spy replied, his tone almost deathly serious. “You can all return to your separate bases.” 

Slowly but sure the last mercenary drained out, the RED Demoman casting him a wary glance before leaving. 

“ _Mon dieu, I hope I’m doing the right thing_.” He muttered before moving out, prepared to do another round of spying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, a new chapter! Sorry for the longer wait, it's test season at school so I had a hard time trying to cram in some writing. Spring break is starting up however, so I should be able to get a new chapter out soon.
> 
> Thank you all for the support for this story! It makes me happy that people actually enjoy reading my stories. Y'all are the absolute best ok
> 
> (And sorry for leaving you guys on a cliffhanger yet again.)


	7. Hiatus announcement

Hi! Just announcing that I'm going on a bit of a hiatus. I'm kind of struggling with planning out the next chapter, so I'm taking some time off of this story to... refresh, I guess. I might post some one shots in the meantime though! However, the hiatus shouldn't last  _too_ long, and I'm not abandoning this story yet, Don't worry.

I'll see you guys in a bit!

-Realitymess


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